| 1.
What is "Spam"?
2. How to Tackle Spam?
2.1 At
ITSC Side - Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus
(ASAV) Gateway for CWEM Users
2.2
At User Side - Filter and Complain
2.2.1
Install Filter in Mail Program
2.2.2 Find Out Who Spammed
You, and Complain
to Their ISP
3. Policy of ITSC on Spam?
4.
Q & A
Q1. How Does My E-mail Address Go to the Hands
of Spammers
Q2. Do I Have the Right to Stop
Spammers from
Sending Me Junk Mails?
1. What is "Spam"?
"Spam" is
defined as an unsolicited commercial bulk e-mail.
In addition, spam is an e-mail that one did
not ask for and do not want.
Note that the
followings are NOT spam:
- Promotional emails which you have been notified
that will be sent to you after you filled in
some online forms or questionnaires
- Forwarding emails received from your friends
- E-mails
that are sent by infected computers.
The e-mail is a spam only if you never (implicitly
or explicitly) gave your e-mail address to
the sender, and the sender keeps sending you
e-mail after you have asked them to stop doing
so. So before reporting, please be sure that
the received mail is really a spam.
2. How to Tackle Spam?
Spam is nuisance. Everyday we spend time sorting
spam from legitimate e-mails. Although it is
impossible to completely block spam, there
are ways, both at the ITSC side and at the
user side, to reduce the number of spam from
entering our mailboxes.
2.1 At ITSC Side - Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus (ASAV)
Gateway for CWEM Users
The ASAV Gateway is an anti-spam and anti-virus
solution implemented at network level to block
spam and e-mail viruses delivering to your "@cuhk.edu.hk" and "@mailserv.cuhk.edu.hk" e-mail
addresses.
Functions of ASAV Gateway:
- Block spam and email viruses
- Store suspected spam in quarantine servers
for 21 days
- Send daily digest of suspected spam stored
in the last 24 hours
- Let user login the server to view the list
of current suspected spam stored, delete or
release the spam
Please visit the Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus (ASAV)
Gateway homepage at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/network/app/e-mail/asavgateway.html for
details.
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of page
2.2 At User Side ˇV Filter and Complain
2.2.1 Install Filter
in Mail Program
In addition to using the ASAV Gateway to block
spam, CWEM users can install filter(s) in their
e-mail program to filter e-mails that they think
are spam.
Most e-mail programs provide filter(s) for filtering
unwanted e-mails. Properly configured filters
are quite effective to separate spam from normal
e-mails. The detailed procedure to configure
a filter in different e-mail programs including
Eudora, MS Outlook Express and Netscape Messenger
can be viewed at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/network/app/e-mail/filter.
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2.2.2 Find Out Who
Spammed You, and Complain to their ISP
If you have really received a spam and want to
report the spammer, you can go to http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/itsc/network/e-mail/reportspam.html for
details
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3. Policy of ITSC on Spam
ITSC prohibits the sending of spam through campus
network. This policy has been stated in paragraph
6.7 of the policies and guidelines handbook
of ITSC - "Computer
Network - Policies & Guidelines on Access
and Usage". Violation of this policy
is subject to penalty including permanent cancellation
of all accounts of the offender.
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4. Q & A
Q1. How Does My E-mail
Address Go to the Hands of Spammers?
A1. Senders of junk mail can collect e-mail addresses
in many ways. They can manually copy from media
such as name cards, letterheads, published papers,
newspapers etc.
Modern e-mail viruses collect e-mail addresses
on the PC it infects, if one PC is infected,
and you have used the infected PC to send emails
before, your e-mail address will be broadcast
to the spammers.
They can also use some search engines to harvest
e-mail addresses automatically from electronic
newsgroups, bulletin boards, personal web pages,
electronic phone books and etc., or directly
dump a full list of accounts in a server.
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Q2. Do I Have the Right
to Stop Spammers from Sending me Junk Mails?
A2. According to the Personal Data (Privacy)
Ordinance, e-mail address is regarded as personal
data. The Ordinance stated that you are entitled
to make a data access request to ascertain from
the data user whether the data user holds personal
data of which you are the data subject; and if
the data user holds such data, to be supplied
with a copy of such data. Regarding the use of
personal data in direct marketing, the Ordinance
provides you the right to demand data users to
stop using it and remove it from their databases.
If the sender refuses to do so, you can complain
to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for
Personal Data.
However, in practice, it is a very lengthy process
to discover who really spammed you. (Remember,
the ˇ§From:ˇ¨ address is totally untrustworthy.)
Moreover, most of the spammers are from small operators
overseas, so it is very difficult to seek legal
remedies against them. It is much more practical
to set up filters against them, as explained in
the paragraphs above.
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